THE BRIDGE TO DISASTER

THE BRIDGE TO DISASTER
Take the newly-built Hennur bridge at your own risk – the walls are incomplete and you’ll have to negotiate live wires before you reach the end of it
M K ASHOKA


There’s a tragedy waiting to happen on the Hennur-Devanahalli link road where motorists have to manoeuvre between electric poles carrying 11 KW live wires.
In an attempt to solve one problem, the BBMP’s created another. To dig an open drain, they closed the road permanently and threw open the newly-built Hennur bridge to traffic. But nobody thought of shifting the electric poles to the side of the road. Despite the poles, there are no streetlights and darkness welcomes motorists coming from the airport and northern parts of the city, not to speak of the scores of public buses.
This is especially dangerous since the bridge is still incomplete – the walls have not yet been built and there’s every chance of vehicle riders falling into the drain which paramilitary forces scoured for the body of Abhishek Prakash, who was washed away in a stormwater drain in Lingarajapuram last May.
There are no signboards to warn roadusers about the deviation or the poles or the half-built walls. For about half-a-kilometre, the driver has to negotiate a stoneridden road unsure of what’s ahead.
WHO’S RESPONSIBLE?
According to sources, a newly-elected BJP corporator from the area is responsible for the mess. “When people in Bhyraveshwara Layout complained about flooding during monsoon, he started work on the drain, with an eye on votes. The drain facilitates the movement of sewage water from the entire area towards Whitefield. To end one problem, he has put all the people who travel on this road in danger,” local residents said.
When Bangalore Mirror visited the spot, there was not a single cop to manage traffic there. When asked about the danger, police said they would look into it. But do tragedies wait for anyone?